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Ashley’s door opened, taking her focus from her game with Esther and her constant debate on whether Esther was flirting or not.

“Ready to go?” Cynthia’s blond hair feathered away from her face in deep, dramatic curls. She wore a baggy, red zip-up, belled denim jeans, and white Nikes.

“Cynthia, this is a Halloween party. You’re supposed to dress up.”

“I am dressed up.” Cynthia spread her arms wide and spun for Ashley to take it all in.

Ashley sighed. “How are you dressed up?”

“I’m Farrah Fawcett in Charlie’s Angels.” She jumped into a crouch, spreading her arms wide like she was surfing.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Maybe it would make more sense with a skateboard, but I’m not carrying that around.”

“Whatever.” Ashley waved her comment away. She was ready to go party. “How do I look?” She did a quick about-face and lifted a pom-pom to sell it.

“Isn’t cheerleader a bit obvious?”

“Isn’t seventies’ icon a bit obvious?” she retorted. “Besides, it still fits.” She twirled, showing off the flare in her shirt. She hadn’t worn this outfit in over a decade. She wasn’t sure why she’d grabbed it from her parents’ house all those years ago except she was her most confident in this outfit, and at the time, she could really use some of that. Now wouldn’t hurt either, come to think of it.

“What are you going to do with the pom-poms?” Cynthia crossed her arms, tapping a finger against her biceps as she inspected Ashley’s outfit. “Carry them the whole night?”

“Good point. Hate that plan. We pregaming first?”

Cynthia tossed a bag of blood at her from somewhere unknown, and Ashley dropped her pom-poms to catch it.

“Drink up,” Cynthia said. “You have to finish that before we go out. No slip-ups. Remember?”

“This isn’t exactly the pregaming I had in mind,” Ashley grumbled, as she popped open the straw. “Ack! It’s cold.”

“Hurry up. I brought a vodka chaser.” She pulled an entire bottle of Smirnoff out of her jacket, unscrewed the lid, and took a pull.

Ashley wasn’t much of a vodka drinker, but the existence of a chaser was enough motivation for her to drain the bag. “Done. Gimme.”

They passed the bottle, then another. They needed to leave before John noticed they were going out again and queued up another lecture. Hannah and Claribel didn’t care either way. Don’t draw attention and don’t form human attachments. Aside from those two rules, they hardly cared. Which was why Ashley hadn’t invited Esther out with her. At best, if they were caught, she could expect a lengthy sermon from John on the long-term repercussions and complications of associating with something as fleeting as humans. At worst…well, she wouldn’t risk that.

After that night at the lake, she’d kept up a semi-regular stream of texts with Esther. Usually light and school-related, nothing suspicious. After blowing through the whole “don’t tell people about vampires” rule, she was determined to be fastidious about the others. But she couldn’t help if their texting bordered on flirty.

Esther is straight. You are just friends. Don’t make this complicated. But being friends was complicated. And now, she was addicted to the adrenaline rush she got each time her phone buzzed and Esther’s name popped up on the screen.

Ashley finished the bottle and made a face as Cynthia took a swig from a third bottle before tucking it back in her jacket. Where were these all coming from? Her jacket couldn’t possibly have that much space in it. Ashley hoped they had rum at the party. Alcohol took longer to hit since her change. And she was still kind of figuring out her tolerance level, but they’d finished over half of the third bottle when they booked it out of the house.

With the help of vampire speed, they were there in two Mississippis. The house was one of a string of McMansions along the lake shore—clearly a parents-out-of-town situation. She followed the music around to the backyard, Cynthia trailing along, where a majority of the party coalesced around a fabricated sound system and in-ground swimming pool. Being October in New York, no one was in the pool, but the blue lightfrom it reflected off people’s faces, adding to the Halloween atmosphere.

“All right, well, I think I’m going to take off.” Cynthia hitched a thumb over her shoulder.

“What?” Ashley whirled on her. They hadjustgotten there. They hadn’t even spoken to anyone yet.

“Hannah wanted me to watch out for you, but you’ve got this under control.” She grasped Ashley’s shoulders and spoke like a coach to her star player before a game. “We’ve been doing this for weeks, and I kind of have my own life.”

“I thought you liked going out?” Ashley pushed Cynthia’s hands away. She’d thought Cynthia was maybe her friend. That maybe Cynthia went to these things with her because she enjoyed it. Ashley wasn’t looking for a babysitter.

“Yeah yeah, you’re totally fun, babe. But I’ve hit this scene, and I got a tweet from this band I’m following. They’re doing a pop-up show in Montreal like now-ish, so I’m going to go hit that up.”

“But Montreal is over an hour from here, and you don’t even have a car.” And she could have invited Ashley to this other thing if she didn’t want to go to the party. Ashley was flexible. She would have understood. Maybe she’d like the band, and they could bond over their similar taste in music. It wasn’t too late. Maybe she could still tag along.

“Hey, no worries. You got this.” Cynthia winked and gave Ashley a peace sign as she backed into a shadowed corner behind some shrubs. “Catch you on the flip side.”